It is believed that there is no art defined field to which the present invention relates. The closest which one might come to categorizing the present invention would be to analogize it to the emerging experimentation involving the attachment of a carried material to a macromolecule.
For example, branched polyethyleneimine (PEI), polylysine, DEAE-dextran and polyvinylpyridinium salts have been used to carry genetic material into cells. Recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,532, entitled STARBURST.TM. CONJUGATES, discloses conjugating a variety of carried materials, including genetic materials, with dense star polymer marcromolecules.
Beyond these examples, Applicants know of no other types of macromolecules which are being used to carry materials.
Further, these types of macromolecules are so distinctively different that the appropriateness of categorizing them in the same field is questionable. The present invention relates to the use of yet another strikingly different type of macromolecule to carry materials for a variety of purposes.